1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a head lamp for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a head lamp which can display diverse beam patterns and irradiate vehicle information onto a road surface.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a head lamp, which is also called a vehicle headlight, is an illumination lamp that emits light in the front direction of the vehicle in which the vehicle travels. The head lamp requires brightness to enable a driver to verify obstacles on a road at night, in which the obstacles are 100 m from the front of the vehicle.
Specifications for the head lamp are differently set depending upon countries. In particular, the irradiation direction of the beam from the head lamp is differently set in accordance with right-hand traffic or left-hand traffic.
Meanwhile, the head lamp for the vehicle includes a single reflector formed in one unit, or one reflector, a shield for dividing the light reflected from the reflector into a desired beam pattern, and a lens for irradiating the beam onto a road.
In order to achieve a desired beam pattern by the common head lamp, shields of several shapes for forming various beam patterns are mounted on a shield portion, and the wanted beam pattern is obtained by rotating the shield.
In addition, in the case of the head lamp made of only one reflector, it can obtain one predetermined beam pattern.
In a case of a beam pattern variable head lamp, so-called AFLS (adaptive front lighting system) head lamp, four types of beams, such as beam for national highway, beam for city street, beam for expressway, and beam for bad weather, are obtained by rotating the above-described shield. In a case of a glare-free lamp for decreasing dazzle of a driver of an opposite vehicle or leading vehicle and maintaining a field of vision of the driver with full beam, or a case of notifying the driver and pedestrians of a danger by irradiating specific light onto an object or a person around a traveling traffic lane, a separate light source of a structure is added to implement the function.
There is no technology of irradiating the vehicle information on the road surface so far, and a head-up display for displaying vehicle information on a windshield of a vehicle has been used as a similar information transmitting system.
However, in the case where such general head lamps are the AFLS head lamp, it is limited to realizable beam patterns due to structure limitation in the shield. In addition, it is difficult to obtain the accurate beam pattern due to allowance generated when the shield is coupled to a motor for driving the shield.
In addition, since the separate light source or structure should be added, it is limited to a cost or lamp layout. Further, since the structurally set shield should be used, there is a limit to the dazzle of the driver or irradiation of the light to the pedestrian. Further, it is not possible for the common head lamps to irradiate the vehicle information on the road surface. In the case of the HUD technology, since the information is displayed on the windshield of the vehicle, the driver should see alternatively the traveling road and the windshield so as to recognize the information, which is inconvenient to park.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a distribution state of the beam irradiated from the head lamp for the vehicle in the related art.
The head lamp for the vehicle in the related art is set such that the beam of the left-hand driving (LHD) vehicle is irradiated further to the right in the traveling direction of the vehicle on a centerline 12, as shown in FIG. 1.
By adjusting the beam irradiation direction of the head lamp, the amount of the beam irradiated to the opposite driver is decreased to reduce the dazzle of the driver.
Meanwhile, the right-hand driving (RHD) vehicle has a beam irradiation distribution as indicated by a dotted line on the road for the same purpose as the left-hand driving vehicle.
The beam irradiation direction and the irradiation amount are adjusted by changing the shape of the shield installed in the head lamp. For example, the head lamp closer to the centerline is adjusted to reduce the beam irradiation amount.
However, if the right-hand traffic vehicle 10 having the base irradiation distribution indicated by the dotted line keeps to the left as described in the drawing, the beam irradiated from the head lamp directly puts obstacles in the field of vision of the opposite driver, which increase the risk of an accident. Further, since the amount of the beam irradiated in the forward direction is decreased, the driver of the right-hand traveling vehicle is hard to read a sign on the road.
In order to solve the above problems, as shown in FIG. 2, the head lamp is provided with a stationary shield 14 and a movable shield 16. If necessary, a light shielding region is expanded by rotating the movable shield 16.
That is, in addition to the shield mounted in the head lamp, the stationary shield 14 and the movable shield 16 are further provided, and as shown in FIG. 3, the head lamp is provided at the outside thereof with an operating lever 20 for pivoting the movable shield 16 and an operation handle 18 for moving the operating lever 20. The movable shield 16 can be pivoted, while the stationary shield 14 is always stationary.
In the system using the movable shield 18 as described above, the beam pattern for the left-hand traffic is not converted to the beam pattern for the right-hand traffic, but the upward light is shielded to prevent the dazzle of the opposite driver. In this instance, there is a problem in that the distance of the beam is short and the light width is decreased, the driver is not provided with information required for the road traveling, thereby increasing the risk of an accident. Therefore, head lamps for the left-hand driving vehicle and the right-hand driving vehicle should be respectively developed.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.